Hesitated, being employed by dad (6)
I believe the answer is:
paused
'hesitated' is the definition.
('pause' can be a synonym of 'hesitate')
'employed by dad' is the wordplay.
'employed' becomes 'used' ('use' can be a synonym of 'employ').
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'dad' becomes 'pa' ('pa' can be a synonym of 'dad').
'used' put after 'pa' is 'PAUSED'.
'being' is the link.
(Other definitions for paused that I've seen before include "Hesitated, stopped briefly" , "Waited a moment" , "Ceased temporarily" , "Stopped temporarily or hesitated" .)